Palestinians in the West Bank and Hamas-controlled Gaza celebrated Thursday's historic vote by the United Nations General Assembly to recognize the Palestinian Authority as a non-member state, but Israel maintained that the vote would make peace talks and negotiations even tougher.

The Vatican hailed the United Nations' implicit recognition of a Palestinian state on Thursday and called for an internationally guaranteed special status for Jerusalem, something bound to be received negatively by Israel.

The 193-member U.N. General Assembly on Thursday overwhelmingly voted to approve a resolution to upgrade the Palestinian Authority's observer status at the United Nations from "entity" to "non-member state," implicitly recognizing a Palestinian state.